What promotes secure attachment in early adoption? The protective roles of infants’ temperament and adoptive parents’ attachment

Abstract

Life before adoption is characterized by the lack of sensitive and stable caregiving, putting infants at risk for non-secure attachment patterns. What leads to adoptees’ attachment security in their adoptive families has not been conclusively determined. We investigated the roles of children’s temperament and adoptive parents’ attachment on adoptees’ attachment security. The variables were studied in a sample of 30 early-placed adoptees (age at adoption placement M = 5.37 months, SD = 4.43) and their adoptive mothers and fathers. Attachment patterns were investigated by means of the Strange Situation Procedure and the Adult Attachment Interview, and temperament via the Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Results showed that mothers’ secure attachment, but not fathers’ attachment or adoptees’ temperament, increased the chance of secure attachment in adoptees. Temperament moderated the mother–child attachment match.

Keywords:

• adoption
• attachment
• mothers
• fathers
• temperament

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I would like to thank my PhD Advisor, Professor Lavinia Barone, for having supported me. She read my paper and offered invaluable advice, and was one of the blind coders of the attachment procedures employed in the paper.

I would also like to thank Dr Antonio Dellagiulia, for the blind and inter-rater attachment coding; Professor Massimiliano Pastore for his statistical advice; and adoption services and families who generously accepted to take part at the study.

Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge the Editor and the two anonymous Reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments.